Vanilla Shortage Could Cause an Increase in Ice Cream Prices

Fancy ice cream could get even more expensive due to an increase in price of one of its crucial ingredients, vanilla. The price of vanilla has risen by 20 percent in the past two months, a trend that market analysts say is due to a combination of bad harvests in the countries that produce vanilla and traders storing up the goods to take advantage of the season, according to the Telegraph. This could cause ice cream prices to go up by as much as 10 percent.

The increase in vanilla prices would only affect ice cream producers that use natural vanilla, rather than synthetic vanillin. And come summer, we might not feel the effect of the price increase on the consumer end if ice cream makers absorb the higher cost of the product. They could start using smaller amounts of vanilla in their recipes. But how would our ice cream taste without that rich vanilla spice?